Thursday, January 15, 2015

On the 5th Anniversary of Citizens United, Urge your Congressional Members to Put Democracy Back in the Hands of Voters

January 21, 2015 marks the fifth
anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission, defining a corporation as a ‘person’
with the same free speech rights under the First Amendment as individuals.
Moreover, it held that political spending is a form of protected speech under
the First Amendment of the Constitution. This decision undid campaign-finance
law that protected voters from undue corporate influence and prevented corporations
and unions from electioneering. Now, they can influence elections by funding
campaigns through political action committees and financing political ads.

The Citizens
United decision set a precedent for the further opening of campaign
spending by wealthy individuals and interest groups. In 2012, the Supreme Court
ruled in McCutcheon v. Federal Election
Commission that corporations and wealthy donors are no longer limited in their
aggregate biennial contributions to campaigns.

Together, these decisions have created
a disaster for the promise of democracy – a promise that says that every voice
counts. More now than ever, the voices of profit-seeking corporations and
special interests are louder and hold the attention of our elected officials more
than the voices the average Americans.

In the past five years, we have seen an
unprecedented
amount of spending each election cycle.These large contributions by corporations and wealthy interest groupshave influenced our nation’s policies.
Legislation to end gun
violenceaddress climate
change, and pass just
immigration reform have failed partly due to hefty
campaign contributions from the companies that profit from these social
problems. Our lawmakers are beholden to the interests of those that help them
get elected. For example, ninety percent of Americans support some kind of gun
control, like universal background checks, yet such legislation lies fallow in
Congress. Lawmakers and and private interests have facilitated the appalling
privatization of our prison system, because they stand to make money on the
backs of prisoners. Little will change
until we demand that the wealthiest no longer have greater access and power
over our lawmakers than the average citizen.

The
Christian Call to Respond

As Christians we are called to be
prophetic in how we care for the most marginalized and vulnerable people in our
nation. They are the ones most affected by the disproportionate voice of money
in politics. To be good partners and advocates for the issues that matter most
to them, we must stand for change.

In “Lift Every Voice: Democracy, Voting
Rights, and Electoral Reform,” the 218th General Assembly stated
that:

“Large sums of money, and the time needed to
raise it, dominate our electoral and legislative processes. Money buys access
to legislators as well as to the details in legislation. If they reject special
interest money, candidates fear that their opponents will outspend them—and
spending counts: incumbents almost always raise more money than challengers,
and the candidate who spends the most money almost always wins. (For House
seats, the number is more than 90 percent.) Because the Supreme Court has ruled
[that] campaign contributions are a protected form of “speech,” the
most important reform to enhance the voice of citizens and reduce the role of
powerful special interests and big money in elections is public financing.Under
such systems, candidates or parties receive public funds to replace or augment
private money. Public funding can curb the appearance of the influence of big
money over lawmakers, encourage candidates with limited resources to run for
office, and allow politicians to spend less time raising money and more time
serving their constituents.” [emphasis added] - Lift Every Voice: Democracy, Voting Rights, and Electoral
Reform. P. 14

In September 2014, the Senate voted on
a joint resolution ‘Democracy
for All’, that would overturn CitizensUnited and McCutcheon v. FEC, as well as establish that Congress and the states
can regulate election spending. This was a historic vote; even though it failed
to receive the 60 votes necessary to end debate, it is the farthest an
amendment of this kind has advanced. It showed that concern for the undue
influence of money in politics is growing among our legislators. We are calling
for the 114th Congress to bring a Constitutional Amendment back to
the floor.

The Office of Public Witness is
participating in a broad-based effort to highlight the damage CitizensUnited has done to our democracy in the last five years. On January
21, we will join with our partners in the faith and advocacy community to rally
in D.C. in front of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to bring attention to the
issue.

About Me

The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness is the public policy information and advocacy office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Its task is to advocate, and help the church to advocate, the social witness perspectives and policies of the Presbyterian General Assembly. The church has a long history of applying these biblically and theologically-based insights to issues that affect the public — maintaining a public policy ministry in the nation's capital since 1946.
Reformed theology teaches that because a sovereign God is at work in all the world, the church and Christian citizens should be concerned about public policy. In addition, Presbyterian forefather John Calvin wrote, "Civil magistry is a calling not only holy and legitimate, but by far the most sacred and honorable in human life."